Historic Houses Saved; Octogenarian Loses Nest Egg

The City Council puts on its cape and tights and fired its special super net at bulldozers ready to take down two historic houses on Staten Island:

The City Council yesterday landmarked a Craftsman-style bungalow on Clove Road in West Brighton and a 19th-century clapboard cottage on Main Street in Tottenville, despite last-minute pleas from both homeowners — one of them an 88-year-old woman — to let their houses alone so they could sell them to developers for the best price.

The Council reaffirmed earlier decisions by the Landmarks Preservation Commission to grant protective historic status to the two houses located at each end of the Island, and Councilmen Andrew Lanza (R-South Shore) and Michael McMahon (D-North Shore) said yesterday they would help the homeowners market their homes through the preservation community, now that selling to developers who wanted to demolish the homes is no longer possible.

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Longtime Main Street homeowner Marie Bedell, 88, also testified at hearings this week and was upset by the news that her 1850s house, considered a rare example of early Tottenville architecture, had been landmarked. The house is listed for sale today for $799,000.

“I’m 88 years old and it’s time for me to go. I want to sell the house and that’s what I told them,” she said. “It’s hard to sell if it’s landmarked.”